Food for a Vibrant Life

Author: yeunb123

Whether you’re cooking it, growing it, reading about it, or eating it, food brings people together. Today, we’re highlighting someone special. Someone who is teaching it and bringing it altogether using tools from her vocation and her passion for food. Dr. Linda Shiue, M.D. started The Doctor’s Spice Box after a continuing education program at the Culinary Institute where she came to the realization that combining cooking and her job as a medical doctor is not only something that she could do, but something she should do. She gathers inspiration from her culinary adventures all over the world from Trinidad to Hawaii and creates delicious recipes with healthy twists for her blog. In addition, Dr. Linda Shiue hosts cooking classes for not only her patients but also the general public interested in health and cooking. For this article, we are featuring one of Dr. Linda Shiue’s simple and easy to make favorites: Kale + Walnut Pesto Ingredients: 1 medium bunch kale chopped 1 medium bunch basil chopped 1/4 cup walnuts 1/2 cup olive oil kosher salt freshly ground …

Spring has been warming us up to Sunday picnics, evening dinner parties, and most nostalgic of them all, summery sips of infused drinks and mixed cocktails. A glimpse of the botanical abundance found in everyday cocktails was first introduced to us in a book, The Drunken Botanist, by Amy Stewart. Why not add more of an aromatic flavor experience to our cocktails this summer! If you’d like to craft a more complex taste then handcrafted bitters is a simple way to make familiar drinks seem new again! Bitters are concentrated liquor flavorings that are mixed into drinks to give a deeper and more complex flavor. Back in the day, they were used a medicinal tonics to help with indigestion but slowly have become a essential ingredient for mixologists and their tasty cocktails. The bitter taste can be derived a few different ways. Most commonly it comes from citrus peels or bitter roots and bark. The bitter taste is then extracted using alcohol that is at least 100 proof. The higher the proof, the more easily flavors …

Homemade broth reminds us of home, the familiar smell of stock on the stove brings back memories of mothers, grandmothers, leftovers, and of course, hot soup. Broth is one of those essential items to have in your kitchen. Not only delicious and comforting, it also is packed with health benefits. There’s a reason why grandmothers all around the world considered it a staple. It’s full of nutrients, comforting flavor, and it’s easy to make at home. What is it exactly? It is essentially boiled down bones with some vegetables and spices for enhanced flavor. The classic vegetables added to stock are called a mirepoix, which includes carrots, celery and onions. Traditional spices include peppercorns, parsley, and thyme. Adding additional flavoring agents such as garlic enhance the flavor further but aren’t necessary. You can use chicken bones, beef bones, duck bones or even fish bones. It’s best to use grass fed, organic animals because you will be boiling down the core of the animal and extracting all of those minerals and nutrients. When the bones are cooked, the structures breakdown …

If you are up for a delicious adventure go visit an oyster farm! Tomales Bay hosts some of the best oysters in California and my favorite spot is in Marshall at the Hog Island Oyster Company, where the moto is “Live to shuck, Shuck to live.” It was started by 2 biologists in July of 1983 with a family loan of $500 and a borrowed boat. Today, it has transformed to become a thriving 160-acre farm full of oysters and hungry tourists. Be warned! This wonderful gem is getting more popular by the day so you need to make reservations weeks in advance to nab one of these coveted outdoor wooden picnic tables. It’s rustic, pure and delicious. You can also bring your own wine and/or veggie to throw on one of their many outdoor grills. The weather is getting colder but that’s clearly no reason to despair. After all, that means that oyster season is right around the corner. Happy Shucking!